5 Steps to a Pain Free Lockdown

5 Steps to a Pain-Free Lockdown from Nikki at Holisticare

  1. Stretch

Imagine how it would feel to have just 2 minutes to stretch before you get out of bed, giving your body the opportunity to release the tension that has been building up. Then your body would be prepared and better able to meet the demands put on it. You don’t need to know what to do, just trust your body and follow its need to stretch.

How to help yourself

  • Slowly open up to the point where you can feel resistance but there is no pain
  • Hold there – NEVER STRETCH INTO PAIN – your body’s response to pain is to pull back, so it will make things tighter
  • Wait at that point until you feel the muscle release and get longer – if you don’t wait for that change, you won’t have stretched
  • Remember that each time you do a stretch, even to the same muscle, its requirements will be different.

 

  1. Posture

If you spend a lot of time in the same position, your body will start to tighten up and try to stay in that shape. Symptoms like pain and inflammation are often not where your tightness is worst, but in the areas of your body that need to compensate for the tightness.

When your body is healthy and relaxed, it gives you lots of support and flexibility, which allows you to move safely without pain or tension. But when it tightens up, it creates a lot of pressure in the area of the tightness, crushing nerves and causing pain and other problems.

How to help yourself

  • Check your posture in the positions you spend the most time in
  • In the car look at the positions of your seat, steering wheel and mirrors – readjust if someone else has been driving your car
  • At your desk – for the latest advice on correct positioning, check the Health and Safety Executive website: hse.gov.uk
  • Remember that laptops should be used at a desk too

 

  1. Breathing

Many people breathe in the wrong way for whole lives, without any major problems. But if you already have an underlying condition or are in pain a lot of the time, the way that you breathe can have a big effect on the rest of your body.

The diaphragm is the main muscle that should be working when you breathe in. It sits in a dome shape up under your ribs when it is relaxed, and when you use it to breathe in, it flattens and pushes your belly out. Your shoulders should stay relaxed.

 

How to help yourself

As soon as you feel that you are breathing faster or using your shoulders more than your diaphragm for breathing in, focus on using your diaphragm until it settles down. Placing a hand on your belly can help you to feel if you are using your diaphragm.

If you are in pain whenever you move, the natural response is to tense up and hold your breath. This makes the pain worse, and you probably end up feeling very tense and stressed. So before you try to move with pain, relax the parts of your body that you are able to, and gently blow out as you move.

 

  1. Hydration

Every system in your body needs water to function properly:

How to help yourself

  • The European Food Safety Authority recommends that women should drink about 1.6 litres of fluid and men should drink about 2.0 litres of fluid per day, but this will vary depending on your size, temperature and activity levels
  • Make sure that you drink enough for your body to stay well hydrated
  • Any liquids that you drink count towards the total

 

  1. Heat

A lot of pain is caused by tightness in your soft tissues putting pressure onto nerve endings. Gentle heat allows the tissues to soften and open up, relieving the pressure and allowing the pain to settle. It also improves the circulation to the area which is important for healing, reduces muscle spasms and improves joint mobility.

Having a warm bath or shower and using hot packs on aching areas can be very soothing.

 

Nikki will be holding a FREE workshop on Zoom giving further, detailed tips and advice for a pain free lockdown. You can register and submit your question for Nikki at: https://accurocareservices.square.site/events
The session is free to join, though donations to Accuro are encouraged.